this afternoon, the final vote on the bipartisan budget compromise. can lawmakers turn this into a kumbaya moments. and steve harvey and president obama spreading a little holiday cheer by surprising white house visitors. >> what's going on, man? what's your name? you've got ears just like me. >> yeah. >> has anybody ever said that? that's good, man. that gives you some special power. >> some of the looks on these faces are priceless. and we have a winner or two. >> i feel good! feel good! come to my store! i feel good. i don't even know if i can sleep tonight. >> if the guy who sold the winning mega millions ticket is jumping up and down, just

imagine what the winner of the second biggest jackpot in history is doing right now. good morning. i'm chris jansing. and let's start with the white house. seems like they're sending a signal to russia this morning. the president won't go to the olympics in sochi next year, neither will the vice president or the first lady. the delegation will be led by former homeland security secretary janet napolitano. this is the first time since sydney in 2000 that a sitting or former president or first lady has not attended the games. now, the white house is not saying this has anything to do with russia's anti-gay laws, but they say the president's schedule won't allow him to make the trip. in a statement, the white house said the u.s. delegation to the olympic games represents the diversity that is the united states. but two openly gay athletes were chosen for this delegation. tennis legend billie jean king and caitlin cahow. billie jean king tweeted laurned to represent usa in sochi and i hope these olympics will be a

watershed moment for the acceptance of all people. >> caitlin told usa today, quote, it's obviously a statement that's being made but i think it's an incredibly respectful one. hendrik hertzberg is the senior editor of the new yorker and irin carmon, msnbc national reporter. good to see both of you. the president is not alone in this. the presidents of france, germany are not going. no explanations given in those cases. the white house just says, rik, it doesn't fit into the president's schedule. is that what's going on? >> it doesn't fit into the secretary of state's schedule, the head of the post office so i think they're sending a pretty clear and rather nuanced and intelligent message here because they're sending world class athletes, who happen to be gay like billie jean king, and then a very kind of correct but low-level official delegation. and that just sends exactly the right -- hits just the right note, i think. >> there's a big picture thing that a few people have pushed

for which is a boycott of these games. the president was asked about that and he said that's going a little too far, but here's what else he did say about that. >> one of the things i'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which i think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there. and if russia doesn't have gay or lesbian athletes, then it would probably make their team weaker. >> the lbgt community is cheering this decision by the white house, but irin, do you agree with rik, is this sending a signal or just a scheduling glitch. >> it's clearly sending a signal and it's nuanced because what you don't want to do is leave the athletes training for years in the lurch. that includes gay and lesbian athletes. so in consultation with various human rights groups, they look at how do you kind of say we don't want to let them down and

we want to send a statement. last week we were remembering nelson mandela. south africa was barred from the olympics for decades because it institutionalized discrimination. so here we have in the same way not endorsing the fact that russia has institutionalized hatred essentially with its laws. >> it isn't as if the united states and russia have the warmest of relationships anyway, particularly between president obama, rik, and vladimir putin. obviously one of the big hangups, asylum that's been given to edward snowden. what's going on in the kremlin right now? what's putin saying, thinking? they really wanted this to be their, like every other place that hosts the olympics, their shining moment in the sun. >> right. well, three years ago now when i worked in the white house for president carter and he decided to boycott the olympics, that was because of the soviet invasion of afghanistan, the first time the soviet union had actually sent troops into an area not under its own control

after world war ii, that was a big, big deal. arguably bigger than these anti-gay discrimination laws. and as irin said, the big problem there was that the athletes who had been training for four years didn't get a chance to perform. they were kind of drafted into a sort of war by other means. you know, their sacrifice was great, though maybe not as great, definitely not as great as soldiers who go to war or get killed and maimed. so this is -- this is -- again, this is just -- this is threading the needle in a very smart, intelligent, clear way. >> there's another -- >> and the russians -- you know, the russians -- pride is a big deal for them, prestige is a big deal for them, and this is a nick at their prestige. >> well, speaking of prestige, i think a few members of congress may be patting themselves on the back this morning because at least it looks like we're going to have a budget later today,

imagine that. in fact the president and first lady are going to be meeting with a group of moms at the white house, part of this push to get them to get their kids to enroll in obamacare. meantime there's a new obamacare website guru whose name is kurt del bene, former head of microsoft's office division, going to take over for jeff zients. irin, are things getting better? >> i think any time people are able to access health care, the response rates are up, people are getting through to the site and able to sign up. the proof is going to be what their lives are like once they are insured. and the president has made outreach to women a big part of his campaign last year. it was a big part of moving through all of the different races that we saw going into 2014, reaching out to mothers is going to be crucial. >> this has sort of settled down a little bit, presumably in part because the website is working a lot better but also because there has been a little bit of, imagine that, kind of a change

that congress has actually had to focus on the budget for a little while. but once next year comes, the republicans get back out on the campaign trail, where do we stand with this and how important, as we see them sort of gearing up for january first, staffing up the call centers, the in person locations, how important are those numbers as they come out early next year? >> they'll be pretty important because the republicans seem to be putting all their chips on demonizing obamacare and making it seem as if obamacare is the end of the world. that's their new strategy. and will it work? well, it depends. it depends on whether people can be made to fear something that isn't threatening them. because all these troubles have really had to do with a very small slice of people who require health care. pretty much 90% the individual market people. actually things will be better for them on the whole, but there are identifiable individuals who are going to have to pay more or

will have to get a better policy at a higher price. and if they -- if the republicans can make them stand for the whole somehow, make that 3% or 4% stand for 100%, then they'll do pretty well. i would bet against them, though. >> the republicans are, though, i think there's no doubt about it, they have said it openly they're going to try to ride the politics of all of this. the headline in the "washington post" the ad every democrat should be scared of. >> on health care, jeanne shaheen didn't tell the truth. >> you can keep your insurance if you like it. it will increase choices for families. it will promote competition. >> the facts. more than 20,000 new hampshire patients have had their coverage cancelled. so next november, if you like your senator, you can keep her. if you don't, you know what to do. >> so in response to that, jeanne shaheen sends out a mailer and said look what's happening, right wing super pacs are trying to steal the senate, trying to take back the senate,

help me. trying to use it to her fund-raising advantage. but are those kinds of ads going to be effective? >> new hampshire is a tough state when it comes to obamacare. rik alluded to the fact that there are going to be some people who are going to have to pay more or have a more difficult time if they did like their health plan before in terms of transitioning. in new hampshire, the tea party legislature declined to set up an exchange and instead they had to access the federal exchange and last i checked, there was only one insurer that was selling in new hampshire. so it's possible that, you know, this kind of attack will work. but jeanne shaheen is very popular in the state. >> irin carmon, rik hertzberg, great to see both of you. checking the newsfeed, taliban suicide bombers attacked a u.s. military base near the pakistan border of afghanistan today. three attackers blew up a car at the gate of a nato outpost and then stormed the compound, killing an afghan policeman. no american soldiers were killed, but the attack comes a day after six americans were killed in a blackhawk chopper crash in afghanistan.

some new information coming in this morning about the teenage gunman in last week's colorado school shooting. police say karl pierson came armed with a shotgun and more than 125 rounds of ammunition. he had a latin phrase written on his forearm that means the die has been cast. pierson also wrote letters and numbers on his arm that corresponded to the five different areas in the school he planned to attack. pierson's one victim, 17-year-old claire davis, remains in critical condition. democrats see an opening, albeit a small one, after three different members of the house announced their retirements yesterday. ten-term iowa republican tom latham won't run again. neither will virginia republican frank wolf or jim matheson. all these seats, seen as competitive races. democrats would need to net 17 seats to take over the house. tom latham also happens to be a close friend of speaker boehner so speculation is running that his exit could signal boehner's departure as well.

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just about six hours until the senate is expected to vote on the bipartisan budget deal for 2014. the agreement does look clear to pass, and it could reach the president's desk by the end of the week. prompting "the new york times" to write something odd happened here tuesday, adding, washington almost seems to be working again. but is it? democratic connecticut senator richard blumenthal joins me now. good to see you, senator, good morning. >> good morning, chris. good to be with you. >> should we read into this budget beyond a desire not to see another government shutdown? is there a sense there on the hill that this agreement might mean more are possible? >> i think that this agreement is a very good, positive, even exciting template for what we can do going forward on measures like intelligence and immigration and the farm bill.

so i think working together requires the use of muscles, the compromise muscles, if you will, that haven't been exercised for a while. the more we use them, the stronger they are. and i think it's a very good bridge to the next year and i hope it augers well for what we're going to be doing. i came to washington three years ago to try to accomplish things, do things, get things done, which is what the american people want, particularly on economic policy, job growth and economic progress. >> let me ask you about another economic issue, because i know you're planning to vote for this deal, you've said, but you've called it far from perfect. it does not extend unemployment benefits meaning more than 20,000 jobless residents alone would collect their unemployment benefits soon. is this a place where you think a deal can be made? what are the realistic prospects, senator, for doing something about unemployment benefits? >> i think very realistic, chris. and the reason i say so is that

it has economic consequences beyond simply the well-being of those 20,000 people in connecticut and millions across the country who have been unemployed for record periods of time in record numbers, which is a drag on the economy. so i foresee a bipartisan effort to move forward the extension of unemployment insurance for the sake of the economy. and my hope is also that we'll correct one of the other regrets about this deal, which is the impact on retiree -- military retiree benpensions which is sag $6 billion but i think we need to look at that economic impact as well, so i think there is a realistic prospect for bipartisan efforts on both of these measures going forward, simply because the economic consequences are so important. >> there's also lingering questions about the nsa. as i'm sure you know when the tech executives came to the white house yesterday the meeting went twice as long as

was scheduled and senate majority leader harry reid has expressed some openness to legislation that would rein in some of the nsa's power. said he would like to see a law that changes their data collection activities. have you spoken to him about your legislation? >> we have spoken in our caucus extensively, but again, it's not just the democratic caucus or conference, it is republicans who have an interest as well. remember that the amendment in the house of representatives very nearly passed with bipartisan support, a measure that in a fashion would have accomplished some reining in of the government surveillance effort. i see a very realistic prospect for reforms. for example, establishing a constitutional advocate, as i've proposed that, would bring greater transparency, increase confidence in trust, which is the reason that those tech executives went to the white house. they are saying to the president of the united states, we're

going to be at a competitive disadvantage. american tech companies are going to be at an unlevel playing field because of not only the reality of government surveillance, but also the myths and fears that come from lack of transparency. so i think there's a growing economic interest in reform of our signals intelligence program, not only for the sake of values of privacy and civil liberties, but also economic consequences of our companies being at a competitive disadvantage against european companies where the spying may be even greater than in this country but the myths apply to this country. >> senator richard blumenthal, great to have you again. thank you so much. >> thank you. a blast from the past is being brought in to shake things up at the white house. can former bill clinton chief of staff john podesta help the white house regain its footing in the new year? we've got that story coming up.

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a new museum with the impressive lineup in washington, d.c. of course you have the smithsonian but also the national postal museum, the national building museum and the national bonsai museum. but the one museum that stayed on the drawing board more than a decade is a national women's history museum. joining me are two representatives fighting to change that. we rarely see backing anything together. new york democratic congresswoman carolyn maloney and tennessee congresswoman marsha blackburn. it's good to have both of you here, thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> so you're co-sponsors of this bill to try to make this museum a reality. it took you five years just to move a seven-ton statue out of the capitol crypt into the capitol rotundrotunda. is this a sign of why it's taken so long for this museum to get up and running? >> well, it always seems to take

more effort for anything pertaining to women, but marsha and i are determined to pass this bill and we have strong bipartisan support with senator collins and muikalski. a spot on the mall or near the mall is a bipartisan initiative dedicated to honoring women and their important contributions to our country and our history andin piand inspiring a new generation of leaders. little girls should be just as inspired as little boys when they come to their capital, but regrettably women are largely missing from history books, from monuments, from statues. of the 210 statues in the capital, only 13 are of women. >> wow. >> of the 2,400 historical sites in our country, only 5% are women. this history museum with change that and tell an important

story. >> you'd think it line easier, given that we have a record 101 women in congress. so beyond what we just heard from your colleague, make your case. why do you think this is so important? >> chris, i think it's important for people to realize that this would be a privately funded museum. we know that it takes longer to get it done through the governmental agencies and the processes, so what they have done, women have banded together, formed a firefig501 c the museum would be covered entirely by private donations. >> is that a change? because i think in 2010 republicans tom coburn and jim demint blocked a bill because they said we shouldn't be spending money on this. >> right. and what this would do is the bill that carolyn and i have would establish, it would give permission for a commission to

be pulled together to study the issue and find that site that carolyn is talking about. and we think women all across this country, conservative and liberal, will come together and say let's have a museum that gives us the opportunity to talk about the greatness of debra sampson and clara barton and susan b. anthony and so many women who have served our nation well and have been not only participants, but activists for the cause of freedom and for women getting the right to vote. >> i was telling you that i had gone to a museum dedicated to harriet tubman. first of all, the volunteer who was in there knew everything, so that was pretty amazing, but it was clear that this was a place that was put together by people who cared about harriet tubman. there was no real backing behind it. do you think that's because she's a woman? do you think that it's harder whenever we're talking about women? >> i think it's definitely

harder and i'm pleased there was a museum for harriet tubman, at least it's a start. this would chronicle the achievements of women in so many areas. take heady lamar, she was a movie star but a scientist too and developed a technology that led to cell phones, wi-fi, a torpedo that was wireless during world war ii. >> i had no idea, that's amazing. >> and the 501 c 3 has been in existence since we moved the statue out of the basement and into the rotunda of the capitol. we had to raise money to move that statue. so we've been working for a long time putting all of this up on the internet and working for a museum. we need a site to put all of this together. and i can't find a museum anywhere. you mentioned the stamp museum and others, but there is not a museum in washington or in the world or in the country that i'm aware of that dedicates its

whole effort to chronicling the contributions and really honoring the many hard work and achievements of women. >> congressman blackburn, we're out of time but i want to ask you if people want to learn more about this, where should they go? >> they can go to my website, blackbu blackburn.house.gov, they can follow me on facebook or twitter, carolyn has hers, and we think women across the country, conservative and liberal are going to say this is a worthy cause. we're grateful to the house leadership and candace miller for helping us have the hearing on the bill and putting the wheels in motion on the process. >> i think people are relieved all across the country to see bipartisanship whether it's the budget or something like this. maybe we'll have you back on working on even something else. so congressman carolyn maloney and marsha blackburn, thanks to both of you, good luck. >> thank you. >> thank you, chris. if you read only one thing this morning, my must-read is

about the first jobs of celebrities who grew up in the '60s. you'll never guess which actor was a dancer at the 1964 world's fair. check it out, it's up on our facebook page. let us know what you think, facebook slash jansingco. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends january 2nd. for details, visit vwdealer.com today

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obama. steve, how much can an insider like john podesta shake things up at the white house? >> well, no one person is going to change the arc of the presidency but john is as good a get as they could possibly hire right now. experience matters in politics and government but john brings great experience. >> and the relationships that come with it. >> the relationships that come with it and knowing how things work in washington. he is going to be a great asset to them. i think they have made other changes and there's more to come. you know, it's hard to work in the white house. it's tiring. and there's nothing wrong with bringing in some new people with some new energy to focus on the new year. >> kristen, you've seen the polls. only 43% approval for the president's job performance, nine points lower than a year ago, basically on par with the republicans after having a big advantage last year. in your experience and take the particular people out of it, the john podesta, barack obama, but do you think that someone like john podesta can move numbers?

and how do sort of advisers become great advisers? >> so what will be difficult for this president is in order to move those numbers, you have to regain the trust of the american people. that's sort of been the biggest damage that we've seen both to this president and in that sort of 2005 year of president george w. bush where they lost the trust of the american people on these questions. do you think they're honest and trustworthy, you saw those numbers decrease and they are never able to turn those job approval numbers around. what will be important for this new adviser to do if he wants to turn the white house around is make sure the president is out there saying things that get people to trust him. and the problem is if the policies, if the affordable care act doesn't start working really well for people, it will be tough to craft a message around it. >> and politico painted an amusing portrait of john podesta. former clinton aides say sometimes he can have a short fuse. they have a nickname, skippy, a

sulfuric evil twin so fearsome that even the brash rahm emanuel scrambled for cover. steve, how is that going to work out? >> i think what matters here most is not the personality with john podesta, i worked with john for a long time and he's fabulous, but it's the policies that are going to matter. barack obama's numbers are going to improve if he fights for things migddle class people car about. i think the vast majority of americans want to see comprehensive immigration reform, minimum wage. when they see obamacare start to work, his numbers will turn around. >> ultimately do you think we're at that point, to go back to the james ckaucarvel phrase, it's t economy, stupid. ultimately we talk a lot about what's going to happen in 2014 but it's going to be how confident people feel, how good they feel about their jobs, how good they feel about their

futures. >> i couldn't agree with you more. it's going to be about the economy. but within the broad umbrella of the economy, there are sort of subissues there. john podesta is very focused on income inequality and his move into the white house will signal a big focus on that. i think that puts the challenge to republicans under the umbrella of the economy what's your focus? is your focus on growth? is your focus on social mobility? it's less about the gap between the bottom and the top and it's more about can you go from the bottom to the top. republicans will need to figure out if this is going to be the democratic economic focus, what's our focus and how do we make it the winning message. >> besides john podesta, the white house has made several other appointments. they have got a new -- they got the confirmation by the senate of the new homeland security chief. they also announced former microsoft executive kirk delbebe is refrasiplacing jeff zients a

more than a million people have enrolled in obamacare. where's the momentum going to shift? is the shift going to be on obamacare? >> well, that's job one, there's no question that they need to spend a lot of time in the next year making sure that both the policy and the process work on obama care. i think they're going to do that. i think they have the right people in place. i think when we get to the next election, people will see that obamacare has in fact worked and is a very popular program. it's going to require a concerted effort to sell it. and i think they have the people in place to do that. >> steve elmendorf, kristen soltis anderson, thanks to both of you. have a great day. >> thank you. checking the newsfeed this morning, chilling new details about a shooting inside a nevada medical center. witnesses say the gunman told them to get out before he opened fire. it appeared he had a specific target in mind. he killed a doctor before turning the gun on himself. police aren't sure, though, why he did it or even if he was a patient. firefighters said to be

making progress against that massive wildfire that's engulfed california's big sur region. it is now 20% contained. they hope to have it completely contained by friday. at least 22 homes have been destroyed, including the home of the town's fire chief. >> it was too much. i was by myself and i simply couldn't -- by the time other people got there, it was just too late. >> the fire has already destroyed 769 acres. senator elizabeth warren taking on employers who require credit histories on job applicants. she says there's no connection between a person's ability to do their job and their credit rating. >> people ought to be able to get out there and compete for a job based on whether or not they can do the job, not based on whether or not they can pay their bills or whether or not they have had a problem in the past, a divorce, a job loss. >> warren's bill has support from dozens of liberal consumer groups who argue that credit

history discriminates against the economically disadvantaged. the christmas crush is on. with just one week to go until christmas, retailers have been rolling out the red carpet. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. obviously, mandy, the goal is to get us to spend our money. >> to open up our wallets, chris. with all this wintry weather impacting sales, retailers are trying to sweeten the deal. there's a new var from the national retail federation which finds that half of all shoppers plan to wrap up their shopping online. nearly a third will do it today. and today really is the day to do it because it's free shipping day and there are now more than 900 retailers who are offering free shipping with delivery by christmas, by hook or by crook. they say by christmas eve you're going to have it. i actually found this kind of amusing because you can actually get free shipping when you order a drone from a company called quad-o-copter. it's one of those companies promoting in that free shipping.

>> that's funny. >> i know. in addition to free shipping, there are a lot of retailers out there who are also targeting the procrastinator. you know, the person who may be like men who maybe wait until the last minute. i don't know, maybe just the men in my family, myself included. so j.c. penney is out with a new ad this morning. let's take a look. ♪ ♪ robert waited way too long, he is in a panic ♪ ♪ he has no clue what to get, he's looking slightly manic ♪ ♪ point him to the jewelry so he won't buy a vacuum ♪ >> i don't know about you, but if i got a vacuum for christmas from my significant other, don't even think about it. that is going to put my hubby on the naughty list. >> speaking of naughty lists, i'll tell you, this has really got a lot of people going, because facebook is talking about running video ads in their news feeds. >> right. so it's going to start doing this later on this week, tomorrow in fact. it's really a double-edged sword because on the one hand it might help facebook capture a share of

the annual like $66 billion tv ad market, but if you don't want that video ad, and let's face it, many people don't, it really may end up alienating the users. so the first video ad is a teaser for the coming sci-fi film called "divergent." it will begin appearing tomorrow and these ads will start playing automatically as you're scrolling through your news feed. they're initially going to play without sound and you can apparently stop the ad by scrolling past it in the news feed, but i didn't like those ads. >> i know, i know, the pop-ups. we'll see how that goes. mandy drury, great to see you, thank you. hit fix is out with the results of their annual television critics poll. they looked at the top tv shows of 2013. number five, "masters of sex." 4 is "the good wife" followed by hbo's "game of thrones." number two, "orange is the new black." and their best show of 2013, amc's "breaking bad" which just

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[ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® it may pay to drink organic milk. washington state university researchers investigated whether organic milk holds an advantage over nonorganic milk. they reported organic whole milk contains more omega 3 fatty acids which are beneficial to heart health and less fatty acids that may lead to inflammation and diabetes. a big victory for minimum wage workers in washington, d.c. the city council voted unanimously to raise the minimum wage from $8.25 to $11.50 an hour, making it among the highest in the nation. that unanimous vote means a veto from the mayor is unlikely. last week president obama

and vice president biden met with 16 incoming democratic and independent mayors talking about job creation and economic growth. read that to mean the fight against growing income inequality and the fight to extend unemployment benefits. minneapolis mayor-elect betsy hodges was among those at the table and she joins me now live. mayor, good morning. >> good morning, thank you so much for having me. >> what can you tell us about the discussion in that closed door meeting? what was it like, and what are the priorities? >> well, i think with so much gridlock happening in congress, the administration and the president are really looking to partner with cities on a shared agenda, that so much happens at the local level, so much innovation that there's an opportunity there for them. >> the new poll that we just saw shows two-thirds, for example, of americans actually support raising the minimum wage, which is now federally at $7.25. but in minnesota, it's just $5.25 for smaller businesses, $6.15 for large earning

corporations. i know that so far it's been an unsuccessful push in your state to raise it to as high as $9.50. does a meeting like that help? do you feel like there's some momentum? and the president getting out in front of it, does that help? >> you know, i think at the state level that conversation is happening and it's getting louder. the organizing is happening. but certainly having support at the federal level and seeing what's happening nationwide can really help push that conversation in minnesota as well. >> and i think we've talked a lot on this program about the extension or lack of, of unemployment insurance. just before the actual meeting i understand the president made remarks about his goal for the gathering that he wasn't happy that the extension of unemployment insurance was not included in the budget deal. let's just remind people what he said. >> you've got potentially 1.3 million people who during christmas time are going to lose their unemployment benefits, at a time when it's still very difficult for a lot of folks to find a job.

and that's not just bad for those individuals and for those families, that's bad for our economy. >> so when you look at that, you look at income inequality. did the president have some specifics? did he have a message for you about what he thought you could do or he'd like you to do? >> well, he was -- i mean he was clear on that message about income inequality. he had all of us go around the table and talk about what we were seeing in our cities, and it was clear, multiple mayors around that table had concerns about income inequality in our own cities and the opportunities for partnership at the federal level are very big. >> one of the people, obviously, that's getting a lot of attention, the mayor of the city i'm in right now, bill de blasio, a progressive. the whole idea of a new opportunity for a progressive agenda. there does seem to be a feeling out there. do you have it and do you sense that there will be some movement next year? >> you know, for me, i also spent the last year talking with folks all across minneapolis about the gaps that we have.

minneapolis has some of the worth in the country and our goal to be a beacon for the rest of the country on these issues to show that it can be done and we can move that ball down the field. >> it's a terrific city. i love whenever i visit there. minneapolis-elect betsy hodges, thanks so much for coming on the program. >> thank you very much, i appreciate it. today's tweet of the day comes from msnbc contributor and economist jared bernstein. go it council of d.c. minimum wage increased to $11.50 by 2016. who says d.c. is dysfunctional? [ male announcer ] more than a security system. adt can help you turn on a few lights... ♪ ...bring family in from the cold... ♪

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to politics now. how fun would it be to go on a tour of the white house and actually be greeted by the guy who lives there? the surprise after the president taped an interview with steve harvey. >> hey, guys, i've got steve harvey here. how are you? what's your name? >> how are you doing? >> what's going on, what's your name? you've got ears just like me. >> yeah.

i was going to say that. >> has anybody ever said that? that's good, man. that gives you some special power. >> senator tom coburn presented his holiday gift to congress yesterday, his 2013 waste book detailing how he feels the government misspent $28 billion this year. $125,000 for a nasa 3-d pizza printer grant. $630,000 by the state department to buy facebook and twitter followers, to buy them. $17.5 million in special tax exemptions for brothels in nevada. how speaker john boehner tells "esquire" magazine he has the same breakfast at a diner almost every morning when he's home. i sit at the counter in jeans and a ball cap. order eggs and sometimes sausage, but never on fridays, and never the bacon. my diner makes lousy bacon, i don't know why. it's an anchor to my day. a way to feel like i'm home in ohio, no matter where i am. okay. with the co-founder and ceo of netflix at the white house yesterday, the president joked

that he wished washington was more like the show "house of cards." he copped to being jealous that house majority whip frank underwood, played by kevin spacey, always seems to, quote, be getting a lot done. could you imagine the guy best known for crashing a state dinner at the white house as a congressman? well, tariq salahi says he's running to replace frank wolf. and someone else who's not letting past troubles get him down, embattled toronto mayor rob ford boogied down at a city council meeting yesterday when a jazz group performed. that guy loves to dance. we told you about today's must-read, something you've all been talking about already, about the first jobs of celebrities who grew up in the '60s. i asked you which actor was a dancer at the 1964 world's fair. here's what bruce wrote. cutting the grass of the entrance to the subdivision in which i lived for 75 cents an hour. frederick, casual labor on the

santa fe railroad, loading and unloading boxcars after school and summers. there's nothing casual it seems to me about that. let us know what you think, we'll read your comments. head to facebook/jansingco. that's going to wrap up this hour of "jansing & co." i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts will be up next. ods in your trash. neutralize them and freshen. with glad odorshield with febreze.

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[ ding! ] losing your chex mix too easily? time to deploy the boring-popcorn decoy bucket. then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures only chex mix is a bag of interesting. hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts coming to you live from washington, d.c. topping our agenda today, the bill that nobody seems to love should soon be headed to the president, just a short way from where i am right now. the senate is getting ready to pass the budget compromise aimed at proving capitol hill can work, even just a little. all evidence and polls to the contrary. one of the two legislatures who forged the deal say this is more than about just the numbers. take a listen. >> i think american people want certainty, they want us to manage this country wisely. they want to be proud of a

country that can do that and that's what we are trying to accomplish today. >> but it wouldn't be congress if there wasn't some last-minute drama. several senators refusing to vote for the budget because of a provision that will lower future pensions for some military retirees. >> of all the people we could have picked on to screw, how could we have arrived here? >> some democrats equally angered by this provision, but they're ready to in a phrase that we've heard before, fix it, don't dismiss it. >> let's get this budget passed now and then come up with a scalpel and make an improvement. >> a scalpel and make an improvement. nbc's kasie hunt joins me live from capitol hill to talk about what's going to take place surgically. the senate is expected to approve the bipartisan two-year budget deal after it cleared a major hurdle yesterday. but talk about how this is obviously not perfect but everybody seems to be rallying behind it because it's for the

good. >> that's, as you said, a two-year budget deal and everyone is very happy to be able to put two years between them and the next self-created fiscal crisis. one of the other things lindsey graham said yesterday is everyone is in a hurry to make sure that they're not going to shut the government down again so everyone is pleased about that. that said, we still have the debt ceiling looming coming up in the early spring and republicans are already sending signals that they're going to demand something from democrats and the administration in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. so it doesn't look like we're entirely out of this fiscal crisis after fiscal crisis woods yet. >> if we talk about specifically this bipartisan budget deal and the specific attention-getting item here is the cuts to military pensions. and that's really drawing fire from both democrats and republicans. i want to play for everybody -- >> we're in a big hurry around here to show you how